Thorsten Fink
Personal information
Full name	Thorsten Fink
Date of birth	October 28, 1967 (1967-10-28) (age 42)
Place of birth	Dortmund, Germany
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	FC Basel (manager)
Youth career
1983-1989	Borussia Dortmund
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1986-1990 1990-1994 1994-1997 1997-2003 2003-2006	Borussia Dortmund II SG Wattenscheid 09 Karlsruher SC FC Bayern München FC Bayern München II	125 (25) 092 (11) 150 0(4) 086 0(6)
National team
1989	West Germany U-21	001 0(0)
Teams managed
2007-2009 2009-	FC Ingolstadt 04 FC Basel
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Thorsten Fink (born October 28, 1967 in Dortmund) is a German football coach and former player, currently manager of Swiss Super League club FC Basel.

[edit] Career

Fink began his career with Borussia Dortmund's reserve squad before moving to SG Wattenscheid 09, where he helped them gain promotion to the German premier league, the Bundesliga, in 1990. After the club's relegation in 1994, he moved to Karlsruher SC, where he spent three seasons as a regular and impressed so much that he earned himself a move to the most successful club in Germany, Bayern Munich, in 1997. He subsequently spent seven seasons at Bayern, five of which as a regular, but lost his place in the starting lineup in 2002 and was transferred to the club's reserve squad in the German third division, the Regionalliga, in February 2003, although he managed a return to the Bundesliga squad in late April 2003. In the 2003-04 season, he became a regular in Bayern's reserve squad and only made one, his last, Bundesliga appearance that season, coming on as a substitute against VfL Wolfsburg in September 2003. His contract with Bayern's Bundesliga squad expired in June 2004 and he subsequently only continued to play another two seasons for the club's reserve squad before definitely ending his playing career upon the end of the 2005-06 season.

While playing for Bayern's first team, he helped the team reach the 1999 Champions League final against Manchester United, where Bayern dramatically lost 2-1, conceding two goals in injury time. However, Fink still managed to pick up a Champions League winner's medal two years later, as Bayern beat Valencia in the 2001 Champions League final on penalties, although he did not play in the match. He also won four Bundesliga champions titles and three German Cups with the club.

He was forced to end his playing career in 2006 after sustaining cartilage damage in his knee.

[edit] Coaching Career

By this time, he had already graduated from Cologne Sport University, in December 2005, after taking a course on coaching. From September 5, 2006, he began coaching for Red Bull Salzburg's amateur side. After the departure of Lothar Matthäus as the assistant of headcoach Trappatoni, Fink stepped up and became the new assistant.

Fink took over as headcoach of FC Ingolstadt 04 on January 4 2007, replacing Jürgen Press, who was sacked on New Years Day and was fired on 21 April 2009.

On June 9, 2009, he was appointed as manager of FC Basel of the Swiss Super League, following the sacking of Christian Gross.^[1]

[edit] Honours

• Bundesliga: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003
• German Cup: 1998, 2000, 2003
• Intercontinental Cup: 2001
• UEFA Champions League: 2000-01

[edit] References